University of St. Thomas Athletics
Gene's Blog: Which pitching staff had the most Ks at the Schwab?
7/27/2022 1:13:00 PM | Gene's Blog
Here's an idea: Ask a college baseball fan to name the team that recorded the most strikeouts in a Division I game played this season at Omaha's Charles Schwab Field, the home of the College World Series.
NCAA champion Ole Miss would make a good guess. The Rebels averaged 11 Ks per nine innings to rank in the top five nationally on the season, and recorded 69 Ks during a 5-1 finish in Omaha.
It turns out that it was the Auburn Tigers pitching staff that had the best single game over that 10-day tournament as it fanned 16 in a CWS victory over Stanford.
Of course, many people never knew that the 2022 Big Ten Conference tournament was also played in Omaha at Charles Schwab, May 26-29. In that event, Indiana's pitchers struck out 18 in an 11-inning game against Maryland, and Iowa hurlers fanned 17 in a nine-inning defeat of Penn State.
But... many don't know that Creighton University also played its home games at Charles Schwab, with 21 contests in that park. If you guessed the Bluejays, however, you are incorrect, as Creighton's best home strikeout total for its staff was 15 in a win over Butler.
The answer to our question, which hopefully can stump even the best sports trivia minds: the D-I newcomers from St. Thomas.
On a 35-degree day in early March, three Tommie pitchers recorded a program-record 23 Ks over 15 innings in a 3-2 loss to Creighton. Starter Devon Schewe fanned nine over 5.2 innings; T.J. Constertina struck out two in 1.1 innings; and Graham Laubscher came on and fanned 12 in 6.1 innings. Creighton, which was outhit 11-7 on the game, went on to finish 31-18 on the season.
There were actually five D-I baseball games last spring where one team recorded more strikeouts than the Tommies' 23, all games that went into extra innings. North Carolina State pitchers fanned 28 against Florida State (FSU pitcher fanned 26) in a 17-inning game in March to lead all NCAA teams.
Coach Chris Olean's Tommie pitching staff recorded 436 strikeouts and just 215 walks over 382 innings in its inaugural D-I season. St. Thomas' 10.27 strikeouts per nine innings broke the 2021 school record of 10.18. That 2022 total also led the Summit League and ranked in the top 25 nationally. The Toms' staff ERA of 4.90 was third best in the conference. Laubscher finished in the top 70 in D-I by averaging 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
In addition to the Creighton game, the Tommie pitching staff recorded 15-K performances against Summit League powers North Dakota State (regular-season champ) and Oral Roberts (playoff champ), plus an 18-K outing in a win over Sacred Heart. Against Big Ten teams, the Toms also fanned 11 in a 3-2 loss at Northwestern; struck out 35 in four games against Minnesota; and fanned seven in a 6-5 loss at Iowa.
More Trivia
St. Thomas comes into the 2022-23 seasons with two of the longer win streaks in selected sports across D-I: Men's Soccer won its final three games and that current win streak ties for second nationally; Baseball won its final three games, and that current streak ties for fourth nationally.
More Streaks
St. Thomas grad Ryan Zimmerman is now in year five of his professional pitching career in summer 2022 as he is back as a starter with the Milwaukee Milkmen in the 12-team American Association of Professional Baseball.
The Eden Prairie native and 2017 Tommie grad is coming off a strong outing with six shutout innings in last Friday's win over Sioux City, as he allowed no runs one walk and two hits with seven Ks. On the season, Zimmerman is 4-3 with a 4.11 EA with 56 Ks and 31 walks over 61.1 innings. Over his career, Zimmerman has worked in 82 pro games with the St. Paul Saints and Milwaukee (74 starts), with 399 Ks in 416 innings and a 4.69 ERA.
From 2014-17 competing for St. Thomas, in 43 career pitching appearances, Zimmerman had a 3.04 ERA and a 16-8 record, with one save, eight complete games, and 203 strikeouts and 74 walks in 181 innings. He made All-Region and All-MIAC.
His 2022 experience in Milwaukee extends a streak to 27 consecutive seasons that St. Thomas Baseball has an alum playing or coaching in professional baseball.
More Mound Talk
Tommie Softball's Christina Crawford was among just 25 D-I freshmen pitchers to record 100 strikeouts over the 2022 season.
Among Summit League freshmen, only Crawford (100 Ks in 130 innings) and South Dakota's Clara Edwards (120 in 194 innings) reached 100 strikeouts.
Crawford broke a school record with 19 strikeouts against Evansville in a 5-4, extra-inning win, including 17 Ks over the first seven innings. She was one of just three D-I pitchers to surpass 19 Ks in one game last season. Crawford closed her debut college season 8-11 with a 4.99 ERA.
E for Effort, E for Energy
Tommie Baseball freshman pitcher Evan Esch was a solid contributor last spring for the Purple's debut season in Division I. For most of the spring he held a sub 3.00 ERA before giving up a few big innings to balloon his final earned run total. Esch finished with a 1-5 record with a 5.55 ERA, but he had a near 3-to-1 K-to-walk ratio with 46 strikeouts and 17 walks over 49 innings. His eight starts were second most on the team.
Esch is spending this summer in New York with Utica pitching in a wood-bat league for the 16-team Perfect Game Summer Collegiate Baseball League. He was named a West Division all-star and has shined with a 4-0 record, a 2.19 ERA and a 6-to-1 K-to-walk ratio with 36 strikeouts and six walks over 37 innings.
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Gene's Blog is a sports column penned by Tommie sports information director Gene McGivern. Gene is starting his 29th season at St. Thomas and 35th overall working with college athletics teams. He blogs periodically on various topics regarding the Tommies and college sports.
If you have comments or questions, e-mail Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu
